Latest “State of Travel” Report Cites Surges in Use of Social Network, UGC in Travel Planning

Destination Analysts, a San Francisco-headquartered travel research firm, debuted its latest annual report on the State of Travel in America at NAJ’s DigMe Summit last week in Philadelphia and it revealed some significant shifts in numbers in key categories.

David Reichbach, an attorney who specialized in the areas of intellectual property and electronic privacy before he joined Destination Analysts, told summit delegates that the key points contained in the survey—it has been conducted yearly since 2006 using a base of 2,000 U.S. leisure travelers—were as follows:

—U.S. travelers will be taking slightly more trips, sending more money this year than they did last year.

—More than a fifth of Americans will engage in multi-generational travel this year.

—Three out of five (594 percent) U.S. travelers relied on user generated content in planning their travel

—Half (49.8 percent) of all Americans used social media for planning their travel in 2015; this is up from 37 percent in 2014.

—Principal top tier destinations for 2016 are New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando and Los Angeles.

—Top second-tier destinations for 2016 are Hawaii, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.

The Inbound Report has summarized highlights of Reichbach’s report in the tables that follow.

Who Will Travel More in 2016—by Generation

Generation

Percentage planning to travel more

Millennials

57.10%

Generation X

32.70%

Baby Boomers

23.00%

Pre-Boomers

18.90%

Source: Destination Analyst

Question: In the past 12 months, which of these Internet technologies or services have you used to help plan your leisure travel? (Select all that apply)